INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON MEASURING E-COMMERCE

Towards a Thriving Digital Economy Era

Diana Korka

diana.korka@unctad.org

ICT Analysis Section, Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD

A Global Outlook on Information Economy Statistics

Bangkok, Thailand

27 October 2015

Contents

UNCTAD's programme on information economy statistics and the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development

A global and regional perspective on e-commerce statistics (UNCTAD B2C e-commerce index)

Learning from national approaches to measuring e-commerce

2

UNCTAD's Programme on Measuring the Information Economy

With the collaboration of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development (since 2004)

An international, multi-stakeholder initiative to improve the availability and quality of ICT data and indicators

Building consensus on common methodologies for core indicators to inform policy makers

3

UNCTAD Focus on the Information Economy

Technical assistance: to boost the capacity of national statistical systems to produce internationally comparable ICT indicators Advisory missions

Regional training courses - build regional networks of ICT statisticians

Training of trainers

Training material

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) supports UNCTAD and the Partnership financially in the area of measuring ICT

4

UNCTAD Focus on the Information Economy

Core indicators 12 indicators on ICT access and use by enterprises (B1 to B12)

2 indicators on the ICT producing sector (ICT1 and ICT2)

2 indicators on international trade in ICT goods (ICT3 and ICT4)

Ongoing work on trade in ICT services and in ICT-enabled services

Manual: definitions, standards, model questions UNCTAD Manual for the production of Statistics on the

Information Economy - in Arabic, English, French, Spanish, Russian

UNCTAD training material

5

UNCTAD and E-commerce

2 core indicators on e-commerce: proportion of businesses buying (B7) and selling (B8) online + other related:

with web presence (B6), with extranet (B11), delivering products online (B12)

UNCTAD organized session at ITU WTIM on measuring e-commerce, Sep 2012, Bangkok, Thailand

UNCTAD International Workshop on ICT and E-Commerce Statistics, June 2013, Beijing, China

UNCTAD at World Summit on the Information Society Forum (WSIS) WSIS+10 High Level Event June 2014, E-business Action Line Facilitation meeting -

How Can E-business Become More Inclusive?

WSIS May 2015, International e-Commerce for Developing Countries: Practical Case Studies in Overcoming Barriers to Trade Through Digital Channels

UNCTAD Information Economy Report 2015

Unlocking the Potential of E-commerce for Developing Countries

6

Download it free of charge at unctad.org/ier

Content

•Review of global and regional trends •UNCTAD B2C E-commerce Index •New evidence on the economic impact of e-commerce •Global mapping of cyberlaws •E-commerce by small and rural enterprises in developing countries •Case studies •Policy recommendations

7

Measuring E-commerce

Definition developed by OECD, adopted by the Partnership

"sale/purchase of goods and services, conducted over computer networks" - revised, no longer narrow/broad distinction

Useful distinctions between

B2B, B2C, C2C, G2B

Domestic and international/cross border (in India and Singapore >50% are cross-border, in Republic of Korea 75% domestic)

Via EDI or via website (see Eurostat)

By enterprise size class (attention to small and medium enterprises)

By main economic activity (ISIC rev.4)

By goods and services

Very few official statistics beyond Eurostat and OECD countries

8

B2B revenues by far the largest type of e-commerce

Source: UNCTAD IER 2015 estimates based on national sources, eMarketer, and others.

Global B2B and B2C global revenues, 2012-13

Share of B2B in e-commerce revenue

US: 89%

Canada: 64%

EU: 87%

Rep. of Korea: 91%

Russia: 57%

9

Share of individuals purchasing online 2013

Asia-Pacific major market with great diversity

Source: UNCTAD IER 2015, based on Eurostat, ITU and national data (in red). 10

UNCTAD B2C E-commerce Index 2014

Indicators included

Percentage of individuals using the Internet

Sources: ITU, Eurostat and national surveys => 216 economies

Credit card (% age 15+)

Source: World Bank Findex survey => 149 economies

Secure Internet servers (per 1 million people)

Source: World Bank => 209 economies

Percentage of the population having mail delivered at home

Source: Universal Postal Union => 168 economies

Total coverage => 130 economies

11

UNCTAD B2C E-commerce Index 2014

Top 10 economies, by region

Globally

Developing

economies Africa Asia and Oceania LAC

Transition

economies

Luxembourg Republic of Korea Mauritius Republic of Korea Chile TFYR Macedonia

NorwayHong Kong

(China)South Africa

Hong Kong

(China)Uruguay Serbia

Finland Singapore Egypt SingaporeTrinidad and

Tobago

Russian

Federation

Canada Bahrain Tunisia Bahrain BrazilBosnia and

Herzegovina

Sweden Turkey Morocco Turkey Argentina Albania

Australia Chile Sierra Leone Malaysia Costa Rica Georgia

Denmark Uruguay Zambia LebanonDominican

RepublicUkraine

Republic of KoreaTrinidad and

TobagoMadagascar China Mexico Armenia

United Kingdom Malaysia ZimbabweUnited Arab

Emirates

Bolivarian

Republic of Belarus

Israel Brazil MaliIslamic Republic

of IranColombia Moldova

Source: UNCTAD IER 2015. 12

UNCTAD B2C E-Commerce Index

Asia-Pacific

Source: UNCTAD IER 2015. 13

Measuring E-commerce Other Useful Metrics

Household and individual surveys: Type of products bought online

Type of devices used by e-commerce consumers

Barriers to e-commerce for consumers

Average spend per purchase

Most visited e-commerce site

The role of social media

Preferred payment and delivery options

Establishment/business surveys: Total volume of e-commerce sales and as a % of total turnover

Businesses with a website

Questions on automated business processes (CRM, ERP)

Barriers to e-commerce for businesses 14

Challenges with Compiling E-commerce Data

Limited inclusion of ICT/e-commerce questions in surveys: more often in household surveys than in enterprise surveys

Low or occasional frequency

Sample representativity & coverage

Comparability in terms of definitions & questions used

Difficult for households to specify total amount spent online

Availability of business registers (up-to-date, no dormant businesses) - they only cover domestic and not foreign businesses

Incidence of the informal sector

B2C - numerous low-value irregular transactions, below administrative thresholds - may lead to biases in national accounts statistics (underestimating imports)

C2C hard to measure: may need to rely on private data sources

15

Measuring E-commerce by Statistics Canada

In 2012, Canadians spent $18.9 billion online (Canadian Internet Use Survey, household survey) - useful to identify main type of purchased items

In 2012, Canadian enterprises made $13.4 billion in online sales (SDTIU)

Survey of Digital Technology and Internet Use (SDTIU)

covers Canadian private enterprises in almost all industry sectors

exclude very small firms, defined based on revenue, had under $250K in revenue

sample unit = enterprise (not establishment) => exclude intra-firm transactions (between two establishments within the same enterprise)

17,000 enterprises, stratified sampling, first by industry level (2-nd or 3-rd level of NAICS), then by enterprise size (revenue-based), with large units, sampled with certainty, and medium and small units, random sampling; sample sizes are adjusted for non-response with an expected response rate of 65%

Imputation is used for partial non-response: eg. tax data used to impute "sales over Internet" in combination with the "%of sales conducted over the Internet"

16

Measuring E-commerce by the Office for National Statistics, UK

In 2013, UK enterprises made e-commerce sales of a total value of £557 billion (E-commerce and ICT Survey of business)

covers UK private enterprises with 10 or more employees in selected sectors

exclude very small firms, like self-employed and 0 employees

7'850 enterprises, stratified simple random sampling, by industry level and by enterprise size (employment-based: 10-49, 50-249, 250-999, +1000)

Industries covered: manufacturing, utilities, construction, wholesale, retail, transport & storage, accommodation & food services, information & communication, other services. Exclude: agriculture, forestry and fishing, mining and quarrying, veterinary activities, public administration and defense, social security, education, health and social work, arts, entertainment and recreation.

Difficult to collect data on e-commerce purchases => focus on sales

22% of businesses with e-commerce sales, 51% with e-commerce purchases

E-commerce sales =20% of business turnover

65% EDI sales (B2B proxy), 35% website sales 17

Measuring E-commerce A Way Forward

Learning from national experiences /approaches to measuring e-commerce

Importance of metadata availability => to understand how to interpret the data

Emergence of other data sources: metadata equally important

Choice between several indicators

Evaluating impact

18